INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (KCRG) – The Governor of Iowa has withdrawn COVID-19 allocations for Buchanan, Hancock and three other counties, creating uncertainty about planned vaccinations for next week.
Buchanan County Health officials confirmed that it was one of five counties notified by the Iowa governor’s office Thursday night that they had failed to meet the new 80% requirement of the state to receive more doses. The Iowa Department of Public Health declined to identify the other four affected counties. In an email, spokesman Sarah Ekstrand said: “We believe that disclosing the names of the five counties does not support the intended outcome of the process, which is to give them the time they need to support their administration process. and get back on track to receive reassignments to Iowans. “
KCRG-TV9 was able to confirm that Hancock County in north-central Iowa is one of five counties.
Tai Burkhart, Buchanan County’s Director of Health, told KCRG-TV9 that the county will meet that 80% threshold with clinics holding it Thursday night and Friday. It had planned those clinics before the 80% rule was announced. Burkhart said the Iowa Department of Public Health was aware of those planned clinics and said it would get a grace period on the 80% rule this week.
In an emergency call on Friday morning, the governor’s office said it would “reconsider” withdrawing those vaccine doses if the county could reach the 80% threshold by Friday’s end.
The Iowa Department of Public Health told KCRG-TV9 in an email that the “pause in the allocation will allow each county to focus on administering the hundreds of unused doses they have on hand during that time.”
However, Buchanan County says it will not have hundreds of doses to administer after Friday and it will have to cancel a 400-people clinic scheduled for Tuesday.
“That affects their confidence in public health and their confidence and the Iowa Department of Public Health, which is not making decisions, the governor is not asking for advice from public health workers,” Hunt said.
Buchanan County does not know if or when it will learn if the state has reversed its decision on the number of doses, if any, it will receive next week. The county moved on Friday to vaccinate even more people to exceed 80% by recalling doses from a separate clinic that was scheduled to administer them early next week.
Hunt and Burkhart said the late rule change and notice has not given Buchanan County time to modify its vaccination clinics or plan to meet that 80% threshold.
“They change their rules so often it’s very difficult to meet their demands,” said Hunt.
Hunt is also a nursing home administrator and says vaccine withholding is personal to her.
“I’m the one to hold their hand when they die of this disease,” said Hunt. “So if the residents of Buchanan County aren’t vaccinated, I’m the end result.”
The governor’s office says the doses initially allocated to Buchanan and the four other provinces “will be sent to other vaccine suppliers with capacity for higher delivery rates.”
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